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Dog keeps attacking my other dog

Hi I'm really struggling and would love some advice.
Ive had my Westie for over five years and my shihtzu for nearly four. Theyve always got on well with each other and only fights they had were about food or treats.
Two days ago my shihtzu was just lying there on the sofa and my westie decided she would attack her for no reason. Through the rest of the day my shihtzu stayed away from her and we'd thought it would blow over but on the night time, even though they were sitting in the same room for hours it randomly happened again. Out of nowhere my westie walked right up to her and they started fighting. Now my shihztu will sit in the corner for hours keeping away from everyone. Every now and then my westie looks over to her or stands and stares. Eventually I decided to put her in a seperate room and straight away my shihtzu seemed to relax. But again later on when they were in the same room my westie went to go for her again. They are now like 2 different dogs, one hell bent on fighting and the other cowering. They dont play anymore or sit together. This has been going on for 3 days.
Any advice would be great as I'm starting to panic that id need to get rid of the westie.
Thanks

Think you need to go to the vets with both of them to see if there are any underlying health problems. eg: sight, hearing etc. I say sight because if one of them is having problems seeing they can stare at something and cause a reaction. Pain can cause these problems to. Meanwhile try to keep them apart until you get an appointment as you don't want an injury to add to the consult with the vet. Good Luck.

Thanks for the reply brenda1. My westie has skin problems which she's had for years and just been to the vet and we've had our shihtzu there this morning and shes in perfect health. Not sure if the skin problem is making my westie over compensate but since shes had it for years I don't understand what a changed all of a sudden. Just so sad to see them go from best buds to enemies all in one day.

They may have been to the vets recently but unless you specifically discussed the fighting you would need to go again and have that discussion.
It's not fair to allow one to live in fear of attack, so I'd suggest the use of crates and rotate their time out of the crate, only having one loose at a time until you resolve the issue.